March 2017 BGS Submission Result Number THIRTY-SEVEN of FORTY-TWO - 2014 Topps High Tek Clayton Kershaw Base Autograph Red Storm Parallel (4/10) Now BGS Graded Gem Mint 9.5

Oh look, a High Tek card that doesn't have an issue with its surface and to top it off its a very limited (4/10) Kershaw autograph.

This card sat on eBay for months and no one touched it till I did when the seller just gave up and put such a low asking price for it. I scoped it up and thought it would gem when I did decide to submit it to BGS. Low and behold it did just that as not a single grade less than a 9.5 was earned by this card. What would be great is if I can land the other 2 red Tek autos from 2015 and 2016 to make this a nice little 3 card project. Oh wait I think I have another, see you tomorrow.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

March 2017 BGS Submission Result Number TWO of FORTY-TWO - 2014 Topps High Tek Clayton Kershaw Base Autograph Blue Dots Parallel (3/5) Now BGS Graded Near Mint Plus 7.5

Are...you...kidding.... me ????

9.5, 9.5, 9.5 to be topped off with a 7 on corners. When I picked up this card I "knew" this card would gem when I sent in it to Beckett for grading. Under a scope I saw no problems except 1 corner had slight fuzziness but nothing too bad that sub grade shouldn't get at least a 9. Well other than that sub grade earned a 9.5 but it looks like some grading expert at the lab dropped another one of my cards as corners earned a lovely 7 which is not a lucky number here.

I might miss something from time to time but corners is not one of them as that is where I put extra focus on as if they are damaged either I know that going in or I just don't submit the card. Now I have to figure out what to do with this card. I am not going to leave it in this case with an ugly 7.5 attached to it but I don't want to pay for it to be encased in a certified holder. I'll decide in the future but for now I am just irritated.

Dropping my cards AGAIN !!!

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2014 Topps High Tek : Clayton Kershaw Base Autograph Blue Dots Parallel (3/5)

By the time this post sees the light it day it will be late 2016 or it might possibly be the beginning of 2017 but this rare autograph of Dodger great Clayton Kershaw was the first card acquired after the Dodgers were eliminated by the Cubs in NLCS. Maybe that is why I felt at that time and still do think that it was a steal of a deal.

Always on the look out for autographs in general of Clayton but rare ones are always a priority when I come upon one and when this one popped up I crossed my fingers that I could win it even though I knew it would be hard to. One project that is open across all card brands is to complete an autograph rainbow of Clayton and/or Corey Seager but knowing that most have a low numbered parallel makes it a pipe dream most of the time as when they do show up everyone seems to want it. Well this blue dots parallel is the lowest print run (5) in the 2014 High Tek release and with my incredible luck of acquiring the black and white (15 copies) and the red (10 copies) at an unreal cost this one was the last one of the rares ones I needed. I still need the base and higher numbered ones but I know I can pick those up somewhere down the road. This is only the 2nd time I have ever seen a blue dots pop up and what I chalk up to God doing me a solid I picked this up with little hassle.

Now if I can get this whole 2014 High Tek autograph set in gem mint 9.5's from BGS that would be the ultimate cherry on top and under a loop this looks to be a lock for that gold banner. Only some slight fuzziness around a corner which should at worst knock that sub grade down to a 9.

Three

of

only

Five

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

September 2016 BGS Submission Result Number FIFTY-SIX - 2014 Topps High Tek : Clayton Kershaw Base Red Storm Diffractor Parallel (7/10) Now BGS Graded Pristine 10

2014 Topps High Tek Clayton Kershaw Red Storm Diffractor Parallel (7/10)

What would make this red parallel even better is it earns at least a 9.5 from Beckett as I snagged this on an eBay auction for what seemed like pennies. To be honest if it does I might/probably will flip it back on eBay and acquire some autograph of my core 4. Other than a corner on the back of the card there does not seem to be any other issue so hopefully I see a gold banner attached to this limited beauty.

We have reached the final recap from my 56 card batch and this eBay steal is now a pristine 10 card. 

For those that don't remember I picked this up on an eBay auction when I was trying to get another card that was included with this one. To my benefit though the seller did not really state what this card was as it is a very limited parallel so if you averaged out the price this cost me a little more than $8. When it reached my hands I knew I had a gem in my hands but I didn't know I had an almost perfect card. As stated above I believed there was a corner issue but I guess BGS thought it was more of an edge problem and gave them a 9.5. Everything else though received a 10 and with that it became a pristine card.

Funny how the first couple of batches I sent to BGS I couldn't buy a 10 and complained about that. Now every batch since has had at least 2 come back as pristine. The only thing I am missing is the ever elusive black label 10. 

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

September 2016 BGS Submission Result Number FORTY-EIGHT - 2014 Topps High Tek Clayton Kershaw Base Autograph Black and White Parallel (5/15) Now BGS Graded Gem Mint 9.5

2014 Topps High Tek Clayton Kershaw Autograph Black and White Parallel (5/15)

Unlike a couple of other Kershaw autographs in this batch I did not submit this to BGS for a raw card review and that is because I believe that there is no way (knock on wood) that this does not earn at least a 9.5. 

With the naked eye or under the loop there is nothing I can see wrong with this card. A 9.5 return would make this card's acquisition even sweeter as the seller who is based in Asia "discouraged" buyers to purchase this card as he stated in his ad it is not perfect and look elsewhere if you want something like that. Well I am not looking for perfect just gem mint. Make it so Beckett. 

Well it might not be perfect but dammit if gem mint isn't just fine for me.

A card that was under bid by potential buyers on eBay due to the seller basically stating to look elsewhere now becomes a steal considering the low print run of just 15. I was confident that this would earn an overall 9.5 and BGS did not disappoint even though corners did receive a 9. If this is what a seller thinks is not perfect I hope all my acquisitions come from people like him. 

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

September 2016 BGS Submission Result Number FORTY-FOUR - 2014 Topps High Tek Mike Trout Base Black and White Parallel (14/15) Now BGS Graded Gem Mint 9.5

2014 Topps High Tek Mike Trout Black and White Parallel (14/15)

While I am still not the biggest fan of the High Tek I am a fan of black and white parallels especially if they are as limited as this one (15 copies) and Mike Trout in general.

The one good thing about the High Tek brand is that they are plastic cards which means that most are in better condition than the traditional cards and this one seems to be just to be in great condition. I see no issues other than maybe a very slightly frayed corner but you have to squint your eyes under a loop to see it. Here's to hoping and expecting another gem mint Trout card for my collection.

I guess the "slightly" frayed corner I saw was more than a little as that sub category earned a 9 instead of the 9.5 I thought it would pull in. Thankfully though everything else checked out OK and I have another gem mint for the Trout collection.

Also with this card officially certified as a gem I completed my mini project from the 2014 High Tek set. My 3 primary players that I collect that are in this set (Kershaw, Trout and Koufax) had black and white parallels and now all 3 have gold banners. Not too shabby considering the low print run of 15 and it's always a crap shoot when you submit to Beckett.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

September 2016 BGS Submission Result Number THIRTY-ONE - 2014 Topps High Tek Clayton Kershaw Base Black and White Parallel (15/15) Now BGS Graded Gem Mint 9.5

2014 Topps High Tek Clayton Kershaw Black and White Parallel (15/15)

Just like the black and white Tek card of Trout that is also in this batch I believe this card will gem as it is made or plastic which helps condition issues and under the loop I see nothing wrong with the card. If I could pare this and Trout as gem mints to the Koufax I already own that would be a nice little 3 card set considering the print run is just 15 for these parallels.

While the design is definitely not my favorite I do love these High Tek cards for the simple reason as since they are plastic and not the traditional paper they tend to grade well since conditioning issues are kept to a minimum.

I have submitted numerous High Tek cards and every single one has come back as a 9.5 or better with the exception of one. Obviously this is not the exception. Ha Ha. The sub grades were strong like usual with this brand with them checking in as 10,9.5,9.5 and another 9.5. 

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2014 Topps High Tek : Clayton Kershaw Base Autograph Red Storm Diffractor Parallel (4/10)

eBucks promotion
Falling asking price
Clayton Kershaw autograph
A perfect recipe to snag another Kid K autograph for my ongoing project of my goal to own 100 Clayton autographs.

This card, like a lot of acquisitions, sat on eBay for a long while and as time passed on the price continued to go down and down as the seller obviously received no nibbles. Finally it got to a point where it was acceptable to me and with extra eBucks to be had I finally pulled the trigger and now I own yet another Kershaw autograph that looks to be in good enough condition to receive a 9.5 from BGS when I submit it to them in March of next year.

Four

of

Ten

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2014 Topps High Tek : Clayton Kershaw Base Spiral Bricks Red Storm Diffractor Parallel (7/10)

A week or so ago I showcased the Heritage action photo variation of Clayton that I picked up for $8.33 and now here is the "big" catch of that auction that contained both cards. This one was also acquired for $8.33 and it is the red parallel from the 2014 Topps High Tek release and limited to just 10 copies.

When I saw this pop up on eBay I knew that a couple had already sold for north of $25. Considering it is limited to just 10 copies that $25 cost is pretty reasonable I would say but at the same time the High Tek brand is not the most popular of brands in the hobby. While I personally would not have forked over $25 for this card I definitely had no problem paying $8.33 for it.

I had hoped that this would come to me in good enough condition to add it to my gem mint collection of Mr. Kershaw and I believe it has about a 50/50 chance of that as only 1 corner seems to have a little bit of fuzziness to it. I will just have to wait and see what Beckett thinks.

Seven

of

Ten

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2014 Topps High Tek : Clayton Kershaw Base Autograph Black and White Parallel (5/15)

A major get in my eyes as I acquired this limited (5 of only 15) beauty on an eBay auction that I think people were scared off from. Now that it is in my hands I think it has a decent chance to earn a 9.5 from BGS which would be the cherry on top for this card's transaction. We shall see shortly.

When I first saw this pop up on eBay a lot of factors drew me to it. First obviously it would be another Kershaw autograph for my collection. Secondly it is black and white and this would be my 1st autograph of any player in this form. As I do love me B/W cards this would be a great addition and it being numbered to just 15 was the topper. What made me think I could land it was that the card was originating out of Japan and a lot of eBay buyers are scared off by overseas sellers but longtime readers know I have had great luck from our brothers from across the Pacific. What gave me pause though was in the auction the seller stated that the card is not perfect and if a potential buyer wanted one in that condition to go elsewhere as this one was not "gradable". Yikes. I decided to reach out to the seller via email to see what exactly he meant with his comment about the card being not gradable. After a few emails I decided to chance it and try to win this computer screen beauty and hope that in hand it was just as pretty.

I believe if the seller did not put those comments in his auction or undersold its condition that the card would have gone for a lot more and especially more than what I paid for it. I expect it would have gone for a minimum of $100 but my purchase price was no where near that and for that I am happy.

The card arrived weeks after the auction win and under the magnifying loop I honestly can't say I see anything overly wrong with the card. There is 1 corner that is not super sharp but it is not frayed. I can't see any scratches on the plastic surface and the autograph is clean. So did I score a hell of deal and acquire another gem mint Kershaw autograph? Well I would say at worst it is a 9 and that wouldn't be terrible as well but hopefully Beckett will give it a 9.5 in October.

Five

of

Fifteen

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2014 Topps High Tek : Mike Trout Base Black and White Parallel (14/15)

A small but important little project is complete with this card's acquisition and considering the print run is only 15 I am very surprised that I was able to complete it this quickly.

At the beginning of the year I was able to land a Koufax black and white parallel from the 2014 Topps High Tek set for a steal and I turned it into a BGS gem mint 9.5 card. With that in hand I decided I wanted to also acquire the Kershaw and Trout versions and I thought it would take some time to do that since the print run was so small and the demand for Trout is always high. I ended up getting the Kershaw on a surprisingly low priced eBay auction which left me with only Trout here to complete my trio of black and white parallels.

I saw one that was already graded a PSA 9 which I did not want so that left me 1 of 14 copies that I could try to find. 1 of those was on a BIN eBay auction for $150. Scratch that off the list which meant I was down to 13. Saw that another sold on eBay awhile back before I started this project and that knocked my attainable copies to 12. Enter this card. It popped up on eBay with a price a little over the triple digit threshold. Reasonable but still too much for my liking. I had my own auctions ending so I had the funds to acquire it but I decided to haggle and after a few days I was able to get the price down to a much more likable point for me. I had the card in hand a few days later and think it is a prime candidate for a gold banner from BGS.

Fourteen

of

Fifteen

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2014 Topps High Tek : Clayton Kershaw Base Black and White Parallel (15/15)

A 3 player project I didn't know I wanted to do/complete until I picked one up as a steal of a deal on eBay and now with this card's acquisition I am 1 away from completing said project.

I won a Koufax black and white which also has a print run of just 15. I submitted it to BGS and it came back with a great gold banner and of course now I wanted to add Kershaw and Trout and even though the print runs are the same I knew Kershaw would be the easier one to come by than Trout hence why I picked up Clayton's up first. I have yet to see a Trout one so Lord knows when that will pop up.

We are in season now but I picked this up during the off season and with minimal effort I locked in this card for even more of a steal than the Koufax. So just like that Koufax this one will be off to BGS next time they are in town and I am expecting the same result as Sandy's.

Fifteen

of

Fifteen

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

BGS Submission Result Number FORTY-THREE - 2014 Topps High Tek : Sandy Koufax Base Black and White Parallel (13/15) Now BGS Graded Gem Mint 9.5

2014 Topps High Tek Sandy Koufax Black and White (13/15)

Now we get to the interesting part of the batch. The next 7 are all from the High Tek brand and if you don't know they are plastic cards which minimizes corner issues. Of course even with that thinking nothing is guaranteed.

All my High Tek cards are of the numbered variety and this Koufax has the lowest print run by far with a scant 15. With minimal Sandy cards in my collection and availability in products I would really like to see the ones I do have gem from BGS. Nothing looks wrong with this card up close so I am thinking this is an easy 9.5.

I expected an easy gem on this card and for the most part it was as there was only one area that caused any problem.

In the back of my mind I thought maybe this would finally be the card that would receive a black label as I thought that it would be cool with a black and white card but it wasn't meant to be. There was 1 sub grade that earned a 10 but the other 3 came back as 9.5,9.5 and 9. While it might not be black label "unicorn" that I am still trying to acquire it is a nice gem mint being added to my growing Koufax collection.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2014 Topps High Tek : Mike Trout Low Diffractor Insert (46/50)

This card's acquisition has been a long time coming and the pursuit took me across the globe to finally lock one in for my collection.

My 2 favorite players (Trout and Kershaw) have a signed version and an unsigned version of this card. I was able to pick up an unsigned Kershaw for a discount and won an auction for the signed one and for the Trout signed one I ended up acquiring that on a trade. This unsigned one was the last of the 4 I needed to make it a complete "set" of these 2 great players but time and time I again I lost out on auctions or I wasn't willing to pay the amount a seller was asking for it on eBay. In total I would say I lost out on at least half of the print run (50) in one form or another but I was determined to have it at some point and finally I do.

This popped up on eBay by a seller from Japan. I have dealt many times with Japan sellers and have had no issue whatsoever so I hoped that would carry over to this card. He had a higher than what I wanted to spend price (what else is new with this card?) but also had a best offer option. I sent over what I would like to acquire it for and he promptly messaged me back stating he wanted to see if he received more offers but promised me he would get back to me within 2 days, As a man of his word he in fact got back to me 2 days later and said he had another offer that was $2 more but since I was the first to contact him on purchasing the card he said if I would match it he would sell it to me. Was he up selling me? I don't think so as my offer was way lower than what this card had been selling for so I informed him I was good with that price and less than 2 weeks later I finally received my Trout card. Card looks to be in great shape and when BGS is back in town this is for sure being submitted.

Forty-Six

of

Fifty

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2014 Topps High Tek : Sandy Koufax Base Spiral Bricks Parallel Black and White Variant (13/15)

As I have stated many times before my Koufax collection is severely lacking in quantity but I am trying to slowly remedy that "problem". The good thing though is even though the volume is low I believe the quality is high and it only gets better with this card's addition.

While my main focus for Koufax are vintage cards from yesteryear (1955-1966) I keep an eye out for any numbered parallels but there are just not that many to be had. With that said I came across this one on accident and I think it was still available because it was "lost" on eBay. For some reason it did not pull up on a standard search and I found this on "you might like these" suggestions from eBay and this one particular time they were right.

This is a numbered out of only 15 and has no book value assigned to it. I had a price in mind that I thought was fair but the seller had it on a BIN auction at about $25 higher than I was comfortable with. Thankfully he was open to negotiating and a few hours later we agreed to a price that was only $2 higher than my mental ceiling for the card. Before I received the card I had already planned to send it to BGS for grading and now its a sure thing as this looks gem mint to me.

Thirteen

of

Fifteen and see through

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Trade with Instagram Friend - Keegscards : 2014 Topps High Tek : Mike Trout Low Tek Diffractor Autograph (9/15) BGS Graded Gem Mint 9.5

Now this is the way to end a week with an acquisition of a card that I ended up following from a website to a social media site and didn't even know it until I decided to alter my collecting habits.

I first found this on eBay while doing one of my searches for graded Trout cards. The price was high but I put it on my watch list to see if the cost would go down. It did a couple of times but not enough for me to pull the trigger. I had already earmarked some cards to sell that would pay for this but the amounts didn't match up so I had to wait. Then one day the auction closed but I searched and saw that it went unsold. Left it on my list to see if it would pop back on but it never did. Though I am not the biggest fan of the High Tek brand I really love this Low Tek inserts. They have signed and unsigned versions and with this signed one being limited to only 15 I wanted to add it to my collection which is sorely lacking in Trout autographs. It being graded as gem mint was the cherry on top. But alas all that didn't matter now because the chance to pick it up had come and gone...or so I thought.

Almost a month passed and I saw an exact copy of this card on a razz site on Instagram and I joined in hoping I could win it at a much lower cost than the going rate was on eBay. The razz never filled so I never had the chance to win it. I contacted the razz runner aka Keegsrazzes to see if he would razz a couple of my own cards. I "sent" him a Urias card and a Jeter card which he promptly put the Jeter up on a razz and it received the expected traffic. While talking to him I found out this Trout card was his in fact his and not someone else's, Upon further back and forth I found out it was the exact same card that was on eBay that I missed out on. I still wanted the card and he approached me about a trade/purchase for it. I wanted to sell the the Urias by razz as that would save me some fees that would have been taken out if I put it up for sale on eBay. So I had a certain value I assigned to it. Of course since I picked it up for nothing as I used eBay bucks back in January to acquire it this was all "house" money in my eyes. We agreed instead of him sending me my share from the Jeter razz that he would keep that and I would send him the Urias and in turn he would send me the Trout. In my eyes this was a no brainer of a trade.

While Urias might turn out to be a stud I am moving away from collecting his cards which made the card I sent Keegs expendable and considering I didn't pay anything for it I really had no emotionally attachment to it. While I liked the Jeter card I was not in love with it and picking up another Trout gem mint autograph trumped both Jeter and Urias. After weeks of first seeing this card I can now finally call it mine with an extremely easy trade. Thank you again Keegs for the trade and may it be the first of many.

Nine of Fifteen

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

BGS Result Update Number Thirteen - 2014 Topps High Tek : Yasiel Puig Low Tek Diffractor Autograph Now Graded Gem Mint 9.5

2014 Topps High Tek Puig Autograph

Just like Seager, uh duh.

So that is it. 6 more cards were added to the BGS submission pile and when I get the results later this week and the actual cards back next week it will be interesting to see the sub grades from all the cards that either gem minted or pristined.  

Final Submission Result and Thoughts :

The second of 2 "no duh" submissions is showcased here. Just like the green parallel of Seager this Puig card was already acquired with a guaranteed grade of gem mint and the only thing that was to be found out was what would the sub grades come out to be.

Turns out it was a very strong gem mint with 3 9.5's and topped off with a 10 to boot. Obviously the autograph also was a 10. I do not have many autographs (3) of the Dodger's favorite Cuban but the ones I do are great. This now sits aside a gem mint Bowman Chrome blue parallel from his rookie year and a sweet spot signed black ball that I acquired in person back in 2013. I definitely have quality if not quantity when it comes to Yasiel.

Clearly a gem mint

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2014 Topps High Tek : Fernando Valenzuela Base Autograph

I had been out of the hobby for the first 12 years of this century and during that time they introduced this brand, High Tek, and shelved it soon after so I never knew it existed. I barely even knew anything about it as I only heard bits and pieces in passing from other hobbyists. Well, Topps brought it back for 2014 and it had a few Dodgers in it and they all had on card autographs. Though there is Kershaw, Hanley, etc., there was only one that I zeroed in on, El Toro himself, Fernando

Fernando also happened to be on my to reacquire list as I sold off the one signed ball of his that I had in my collection. Fernando was showcased in a couple other new releases but they were stickers and I knew he was going to be in Five Star (still plan to pursue one of those) but if I could snag one of these on the cheap then I was going to do it. There are various parallels in the set but all I wanted was an autograph of Fernando so whichever one came the cheapest would be the one I would purchase.

At the time of the transaction there wasn't a price guide to go by so I had to go with my gut and my gut told me that this was the one. The other thing that is unique about this set is that the cards are plastic and not the traditional paper. This will probably be my only High Tek card I will acquire unless I can get a Kershaw autograph at a major bargain but I am happy to say that Fernando is back in my collection. Now onto that Five Star autograph.

See through back

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

6 More Cards In Addition To All Of The Raw Reviewed Cards Submitted To BGS On March 7th, 2015

The past 3 weeks I have posted my results from the raw grading event that was held in my area on March 7th. Monday through Friday for 15 days those results were posted but on the weekends between those days you may have noticed I blogged about 6 other cards. Well the reason I did those at that time was because I included them in the submission batch that went to Beckett with all the raw graded cards. The only difference was that I bypassed the raw grade and went straight for the full grade review. So this post is a recap of those 6 and per the norm my thoughts on which will grade out to gem mint from least to best chance.

2013 Topps Museum Dual Autograph of Al Kaline / Prince Fielder

In hindsight I probably shouldn't have submitted this for grading since it was such a bargain I couldn't resist considering the "rarity" of the card. I think Prince is going to have bonce back year and this is a great card with a Tiger HOF as well. Even with that I look back and think that I know the corners are not the best and probably won't get better than a 9. Hopefully everything holds up enough to get an overall 9 but the idea of another limited numbered gem mint card for the collection is pretty much gone.

2010 Allen and Ginter McCutchen Mini Frame Autograph

Well with the iffy card of the batch out of the way we come to the couple that are borderline in the thinking of gem mint status but leaning more than not. This will probably be my one and only McCutchen autograph in my collection so it would be nice if it would come back with a gold banner. I don't see anything wrong with it other than one corner slightly not sharper but its not bent so my thinking is if anything the corner sub grade gets a 9.

2009 Allen and Ginter Kershaw Mini Frame Autograph

Now I am just being down right greedy. I already have one of these Kershaws in a gem mint grade so why submit another? Why because 2 is better than 1. Ha Ha. Unlike the McCutchen mini this one seems to be devoid of corner issues so I hope to earn my 2nd gem mint 2009 A/G mini of Kershaw for the collection. Nothing like a little trade bait for the future as well.

2015 Topps Silver Frame Kershaw

It is hard to see how any metal framed cards get anything less than a gem mint grade but I have seen them. I (knock on wood this one won't be the case) have not had that issue and hope it does not start here even though I don't think it will. The card is clean and edges and corners are "sharp" so a nice limited Kershaw gem mint card would be nice here.

2013 Bowman Chrome Corey Seager Green Parallel

Yeah, so now we come to the "uh, duh" cards of the batch which are also the last of said batch. These were acquired pre-graded as gem mint and so that is what I expect back (the uh, duh comment once again) and the pursuit of mint/gem mint rookie cards of Seager continues.

2014 Topps High Tek Puig Autograph

Just like Seager, uh duh.

So that is it. 6 more cards were added to the BGS submission pile and when I get the results later this week and the actual cards back next week it will be interesting to see the sub grades from all the cards that either gem minted or pristined.  

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin

Card of the Day - 2014 Topps High Tek : Yasiel Puig Low Tek Diffractor Autograph (11/15) BGS Raw Graded Gem Mint 9.5

My collection is sorely lacking in Puig autographs and that can be attributed to the high price usually attached to certified autographs. I have his Bowman Chrome rookie and a great looking sweet spot baseball but nothing else up till now.

The High Tek brand is new to me but the 2014 issue is it's return to the hobby after years of Topps not producing this brand. When they did I was not in the hobby so I didn't know what to expect. This is my second autograph from the collection and after the 1st (Valenzuela) was in hand I wasn't that big of a fan. I find it an intriguing brand with its multiple non color parallels such as clouds, dots and the like but I decided it wasn't for me so I moved on from the brand but a Puig search brought me back.

I wanted another Puig autograph but I also wanted it already graded. I would have accepted a nice mint 9 but then the search presented this beauty. Unlike the other autograph parallels this one looks more like a traditional one albeit the back as these cards are "see though". This card is just one step from being in a gem mint case as it has already been raw graded gem mint which is good enough for me. With only 15 copies of this card in existence if you know how to look you can figure out the transaction history of this card if it was sold on eBay previously. I saw that this card was originally sold "raw" so that means that buyer went and got it pre graded with BGS and was now selling it back on eBay. Saw the price of the previous transaction so I knew where my ceiling was give or take.

Surprisingly the final day of the auction arrived and the high bid sat at 50% less than the selling price when it sold "raw". Could I really score a deal on a card that got better than the first time it was on eBay? Oh yeah I could as after 22 different bids I came out on top with the final total 30% less than what it sold for raw a month or so prior to this auction. Can't beat that and now I have my second on card gem mint autograph of the Dodger's wild horse.

If I get one a year that will be fine for me so this should hold me till 2016, unless a great deal comes up prior to then.

=)

11 of 15

The unique back of the High Tek brand

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day.

-Penguin